5 Things I’m Learning Becoming a Content Creator
And How You Can Start Right Now
So…you want to hop on board the content creator wagon and tell the world about your journey. Maybe you have a burning story to tell or have some good ideas for a new podcast or a YouTube channel. Maybe you’re like me and doing anything you can to get out of the “survival work” rut. Whatever your reason, you’re ready to pull yourself up by your bootstraps and start consistently putting out work to showcase what you can do. That’s amazing!
Now, however, the real work begins. The hours of grinding for very little to no payoff as you try to crack the algorithm and hope something sticks. Worried if you’re putting too much time into one idea while having FOMO for another, you start to play with the idea of jumping ship. Believe me, I get it. So if you’re reading as you’re trying to figure out how to start your journey and feeling overwhelmed, let me break down a few things I’ve started to learn as a new content creator in various mediums.
Just Hit Record
Creating content takes time. Creating great content takes a LOT of time, which for most of us can be incredibly daunting. One of the biggest problems I had in the past was not even getting started. Not hitting the record button on a YouTube vlog. Not starting that new album because I felt I wasn’t good enough. Not putting pen to paper when a great story idea came into my head and letting it float away like a half-remembered dream.
In his book “The War of Art,” Stephen Pressfield calls this “Resistance” and it’s one of the main killers of any kind of creative venture. Every day, we go into a battle with Resistance, and it’s up to us to do something about it, no one else. (I’m battling with it right now sitting at my computer!) If you’re constantly waiting for someone else to come and turn you on… what if they never come?
“Resistance is experienced as fear; the degree of fear equates to the strength of Resistance. Therefore the more fear we feel about a specific enterprise, the more certain we can be that that enterprise is important to us and to the growth of our soul. That’s why we feel so much Resistance. If it meant nothing to us, there’d be no Resistance.”
~Stephen Pressfield, The War of Art, © 2002
Especially around the holidays, I think back to one of my favorite Christmas movies, Santa Claus is Coming to Town. Not only for nostalgic reasons though, but because of one song in specific sung by Mickey Rooney, “Put One Foot In Front of the Other.” In the movie, it’s an inspiring song sung by Kris Kringle teaching the Winter Warlock how to stop being a villain, but the overall message applies to anyone who wants to get started on a new project or change their life in general. You have to just start. After that first step, you do another, and another, and another. The trick is to not look at step five if you haven’t even taken the first, though. If you can just focus on getting pen to paper, hitting the record button, beating the Resistance, and putting that first step forward, most of the time your actions will snowball. So what are you waiting for? Be like the Winter Warlock.
Your First Pieces of Content Will Be Crap (And That’s Okay)
To all you perfectionists out there reading this… get over it. Your first videos, writings, podcasts, or whatever else you’re creating, if you’ve never made that kind of work before will most likely be crap. The thing is, is THAT’S OKAY. You learn by doing and it takes time to start getting into the groove of what you want your vibe for that particular thing to be. If you let the worry of your content not being up to the standard of your favorite already established creators stop you from ever starting, then you’re letting Resistance win.
Each video should be just 1% better than the last. If you want to be a streamer and YouTuber, maybe your next video will have better overlays. If you’re doing a lot of social media, maybe your next post will have more focused hashtags. Whatever the case is, don’t let your fear of not having it all figured out stop you from starting. If you’re reading this, you’ve most likely already cultivated good standards and tastes. The only way you’re going to get better is to start.
Stick the Landing
I’ll say it again, creating great content is difficult. Seeing said content through to the end, though, might be even harder. If you’re someone like me who has too many ideas but not always the willpower to see them through to completion, you’ll know what I mean. You get stuck in the eternal loop of having a great idea, getting super excited about it, and maybe even telling all your friends before you’ve even fleshed out a sketch or timeline. You wake up early and stay up late ruminating and hyper-fixating on this one idea. You can already see the awards for this next great thing. But then… It happens. Another great, but very different idea comes into your head, and unfortunately for that first one, the cycle repeats and you move on, leaving that initial idea on the back burner.
This is also directly correlated to Resistance. Just as you have to battle Resistance to sit down and start on an idea at all, it’s also a long uphill battle against the Resistance to see that idea to completion instead of dropping it when you’re not feeling up to writing, streaming, filming, painting, or whatever other things you’re trying to manifest.
If you have trouble finishing projects like I do, set a dedicated schedule for your creative journey and content creation. If you’re serious about this, then you need to start treating it like an actual job instead of just something you dabble in. Get it in your calendar when you’re going to upload new videos, when you’re going to sit down and write/upload blog posts, when you’re going to stream, when you’re going to post… This is one of the biggest things that started to help me get in the habit of posting more often and more consistently.
There Are No Shortcuts
This part sucks. I know. But you’re going to need to get used to doing so much work for very little reward for a long time. The only difference between you and me is that I’ve started already, but not that long ago. In the grand scheme of things, I’m just starting this journey myself. I can’t tell you what’s on the other side of this monster of a task to be completely honest. What I can tell you though, is that I see my own growth in both my audience and content quality, and have some kind of blind optimism that bigger and better things are to come.
So far, what I’ve learned is that there are no shortcuts. If you want to create great quality work, then you need to put in the time. You should be researching and learning from all the free information on YouTube. “What gear is absolutely necessary to start?” “How do I balance ISO and aperture when shooting?” “How do I write a script for YouTube?” All these and pretty much anything else you might need to know is 100% free to watch and learn. You see in your mind the kind of quality you long to create. Once you know the bare essential gear you need (maybe you already have it?) Take the time and do your research on how to achieve the quality you see your favorite creators putting out. All the knowledge is there. It’s just about putting in the time to find it.
Become a One Person Media Company
Another part that comes with the job is learning how to become something of a jack of all trades. Later down the line, you might find some success and be able to hire a team of editors, graphic designers, etc… But if you’re like me and just starting out, you’re going to have to get turned on by the idea you’re going to be doing a bulk of the work by yourself. If you’re making YouTube videos, then you’re going to need to learn how to write compelling scripts, how to light and shoot yourself, how to do basic edits, and how to create clickable thumbnails. If that idea already turns you off, maybe you need to look a little deeper into why you want to do this at all or even see if a friend wants to join you on this journey. There are no shortcuts and you should find pleasure in the actual doing just as much as completing the finished product.
